Whatever happened to him?

Serious question.

Always thought he would make a cracking FB after [u[ithat[/i[/u GF appearance.

Good question.

Last i saw of him was in a Wakey shirt but that was a while back

Lured away by the financial rewards of a move to Wasps, never really settled and then couldn't pin down a place on his return to Leeds.

Tried Union again at Newcastle, and was apparently released from the last three months of his contract to go try his luck in Australia having been restricted to playing Cup games this season.

Exactly...and now just seems to have 'disappeared' !! (Not back in RU is he?).....i got the chance to review this post before sending and just read Andy Gilder's post. Sad but you gotta admit the lad's a tryer !!!

Saints rumoured to looking at him until the end of the season.

Went to Yawnion where they coached the skill right out of him.

We should put a poster of him in a Wasps shirt up (as well as a Chev Walker one too) at the training ground/dressing room to show our young talented guys like Hardaker and Watkins that RU will kill their careers.

released by newcastle at his own request so he could go to oz to play union, now back home looking for a RL club

Smith was probably lucky and unlucky in turn at Leeds. Lucky that in a winning team spots for him to play kept turning up either through injury or just lack of better alternatives. Unlucky that he never got the chance to consolidate in his best position at full back before he left.

He was also lucky in the era he played for Leeds IMO. Despite the annual "SL is weaker than ever" whining, I'd argue the fact that he (and Wigan version Calderwood) being picked for GB showed just how poor SL outside backs were at the time. They were geneuinely the worst pairing I've ever seen at that level, and midgets (at least in build) compared to most of today's best backs. I walked past the two of them in Brisbane one day and compared to the Aussie backs I've met they were tiny.

Let's not forget Paul Sykes, Ade Gardner. As well as Gleeson at 6, and Rob Purdham at 13. *Shudder*

For all the criticism TS gets for his time with England, I do think he did the best he could with what he had, and I have no doubt he'd have at least a couple of wins against Aus and NZ had he been in charge of the current squad.

Think this is something people overlook when they've had issue perhaps with lack of games youngsters have had at times in the last few years. Lee Smith became a regular in the backs in 07-09. But how would his career gone at Leeds had Calderwood, Walker and Mathers all decided to stay here? Oppotunities arose because of players leaving (who we wanted to keep) that's a key difference compared to the last few years when everybody in the first team has seemed happy to stay.

Also the luck with injuries. Handley is showing the effects of his extended run in the side but I think he's done enough to suggest he has a future here. But he's very fortunate in terms of getting the game time to show that because Hall and Briscoe have been virtually injury free for around 5 years and then suddenly both go down at the same time, particularly long in Briscoe's case. How BJB would've hoped he could've had those circumstances last year when sat on the sidelines for most of it. It might've even seen him stay which in turn would've seen the chances of Handley and Golding getting games at wing or FB massively reduced.

I think the demands on outside backs (and in particular, wingers) have changed over the last 4-5 years in SL.

They're in many cases responsible for getting their team on the front foot early in sets with strong carries and quick play the balls, so need to be bigger and more powerful than they were in the past while still retaining enough speed to be a threat in the open field.

As a result, some lads who coaches 10-15 years ago might have looked at and labelled as back-rowers purely based on their physicality, are now playing as outside backs. There's still a space for the more diminutive winger - Makinson and Swift come to mind - but even they need to have the upper body strength to brush off tackles. I can't see a club now taking a punt on someone like Calderwood for example, who was lightning over the ground but completely incapable of winning collisions with the ball in hand.

You don't have to go back that far to find some on these very boards clamouring for Hall to be moved into the back row, purely on the basis of his size and a perceived lack of top end speed.

Agree with all this, but think this development in the game is a bit of a shame. BJB was another example of this kind of scrawny outside back with bags of skill and no place in the present game who ends up in oblivion/Salford. Used to cringe when it was his turn to take the ball up...

Giant wingers? It's all a bit Brian Noble for my liking.

Smith moved on and in turn we got Brent Webb. I lived with that.

We got Webb as Mathers' replacement, not Smith.

Blimey! I thought I had a bad memory



Smith played many times wearing no.5 but on right wing and then no.3 right centre inside Scott Donald after Toopi left....ALL during the same time Webb was with us.
He only got that rare FB opportunty in the GF (where he won MOM) after Webb's back injury kept him out.

On the flip side, his last appearance for us at FB in his 2nd spell was when we got hammered at Saints when we had the red/pink hair and he was awful.

Speaking of ex-Leeds players I see Jordan Tansey is the latest one to join Wakefield Trinity Rhinos.

Not sure about that, they played in the same team for 6 years!

Not surprisingly I had erased that one from my memory ....all I remember is the hair ...and Paul McShane for some reason

Last chance saloon for so many

..... they must have a full team of ex Leeds players in their ranks these last 6 or 7 years??

I made the point elsewhere all the players that Leeds do let go do never again seem to reach the same heights!!!! Or am I wrong?

You could argue that Amor has, but he wasn't released as such. Likewise Terry Newton and Adrian Morley both went on to have pretty good careers after leaving Headingley.

There's not many recent examples, apart from Amor, Luke Gale would be the other.

When oh when will young players understand that leaving a top club both on and off the field like Leeds only ever sends them one way - down.

They claim they leave for sporting reasons but it's all bull. Smith, Caldy, Srcruton the list goes on.

Was just talking about last 6/7 years !! BUT yes forgot about Amor. That was a puzzling one. Didn't Leeds supposedly have some clause that they could have him back if they wanted to? It seems they didn't...and maybe he is the sole one the club has 'let go' that has gone onto greater things (in the last 6/7 years)